Snipers report high job satisfaction: study

Canadian snipers who have served in Afghanistan report being less traumatized by the war than the average soldier, according to a study that offers a rare glimpse into the minds of Canada’s battle-hardened troops.

Rather than expressing regret, snipers say they feel justified in killing enemies who pose a threat to Canadian troops and Afghan civilians. Moreover, most show high levels of career satisfaction and say their job has been a positive influence in their lives.

Yet snipers report being more troubled than other soldiers when asked about specific combat experiences, such as knowing that someone has been seriously injured or killed, or seeing members of their unit become casualties.

The findings are part of an ongoing three-year study commissioned by Defence R&D Canada, the research arm of the Department of National Defence. They paint a complex, at times contradictory, portrait of the elite soldiers who are paid to take out the enemy from afar.

“Unlike other soldiers who can deflect their responsibility for killing by rationalizing that they were led into battle by their officers, or had to kill in order to stay alive, snipers have more autonomy than conventional combat soldiers and often have discretion as to who they kill and who they don’t,” writes study author J. Peter Bradley, a retired lieutenant-colonel who works as a professor at Royal Military College in Kingston, Ont.

In his initial study, Lt.-Col. Bradley interviewed 19 snipers who had served in Afghanistan and had been back to Canada for at least six months. Most had killed someone in combat. Because of the small sample size, he cautioned that more research is needed before any firm conclusions can be drawn.

Soldiers typically feel an initial sense of euphoria after killing someone in combat. Most later express remorse, and in the third stage, try to rationalize their actions — a process that can haunt soldiers for the rest of their lives, Lt.-Col. Bradley said.

But the snipers he interviewed showed little remorse, with one-third saying they had no feelings about killing, because they were just doing their job.

“Snipers are top soldiers and weakness is not consistent with the sniper image.”